News Is Carousel of Progress getting a major refurb?

[BalooChicago]

I was on it Yesterday. “Laser discs” doesn’t bother me as much as “car phones” - Conceptually Grandpa calling a bluray a “Laser Disc” is (marginally) not out of character, a teenager referring to a mobile phone as a “car phone” is clearly dated - but not as much as the narrator (Rex Allen) on the TV in the queue referring to the worlds far as nearly thirty years ago.

The seats in my theater were in great shape.

 

[janoimagine]

I was on it Yesterday. “Laser discs” doesn’t bother me as much as “car phones” - Conceptually Grandpa calling a bluray a “Laser Disc” is (marginally) not out of character, a teenager referring to a mobile phone as a “car phone” is clearly dated - but not as much as the narrator (Rex Allen) on the TV in the queue referring to the worlds far as nearly thirty years ago.

The seats in my theater were in great shape.

I still have a whole wall of Laser Discs (probably 200+ titles), of course I upgraded to 4K Blu Ray and the 4K Apple TV ... but I still like them and have a player that works ... they hold up pretty well on a flat panel with upscaling ... honestly you can't beat the Audio Quality on them ... the uncompressed DTS holds up today ... and its the only copy of the original, un-special FX'd copy of the Star Wars Trilogy I have found that looks good on modern sets.

Guess I am showing my age ....

 

[mary2013]

I think the last scene is supposed to be dated? Unless I misunderstood it the last time I went (entirely possible), isn't the current version of COP supposed to go from turn of the century to turn of the century, 1900 - 2000?

 

[Sharon&Susan]

I think the last scene is supposed to be dated? Unless I misunderstood it the last time I went (entirely possible), isn't the current version of COP supposed to go from turn of the century to turn of the century, 1900 - 2000?

The last scene of any previous version of the COP (and the original intention of the current scene) was never meant to be a time capsule. Instead the purpose was always to showcase the near future. The only reason it ends like it currently does is due to years of neglect.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

View attachment 353396
It just needs it's original ending back...Ending in 1964...

Something along those lines is all I can imagine working. Presumably if they jumped to the present in the last scene almost all of them would be dead!

 

[DisneyGentlemanV2.0]

The only reason it ends like it currently does is due to years of neglect.

...which correctly represents the present day at most of Disneyworld.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I still have a whole wall of Laser Discs (probably 200+ titles), of course I upgraded to 4K Blu Ray and the 4K Apple TV ... but I still like them and have a player that works ... they hold up pretty well on a flat panel with upscaling ... honestly you can't beat the Audio Quality on them ... the uncompressed DTS holds up today ... and its the only copy of the original, un-special FX'd copy of the Star Wars Trilogy I have found that looks good on modern sets.

Guess I am showing my age ....

I still buy & sell LD’s!

Anyway, after reading all of everyone’s ideas...

I suppose not the best fix in the world, but something that would make sense story wise, is they could have a giant screen in front of the last scene to bridge the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, etc. Then the screen goes up to reveal a newer, more modern final scene.

Of course, their ages won’t make sense lol.

 

[MHR]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, my solution to solve the CoP is:

Have the Tomorrowland Metro Retro Historical Society "sponsor" the show. New 4-5 minute preshow on bigger TV monitors with better sound quality to help set up the show.

The load theatre becomes both a load and unload theatre (think Philarmagic, Hall of Presidents, etc) guests enter on one side and exit out the other side. Guests would still enter the theater thru the left doors and then exit out thru the rarely used right side doors.

The original 1964 orchestral soundtrack is brought back. The curtains are removed and replaced with a movie screen using digital projection. The screen uses a new CGI animation made to mimic the original kaleidophonic screens (like they did for the D23 Carousel of Projects exhibit a few years ago) the kaleiodphonic graphics transform into a screen with a quick recap about the history of the attraction and how it wound up in Tomorrowland, explaining to guests that they will see the original show, which followed the era of Walt Disney's life (turn of the 20th century thru the 1960s) and then see a glimpse at the future.

Acts 1-3 are restored further to how they were in 1964, minus references to GE.

Act 4 is remade to look either like the 1964 ending (suburban neighborhood backdrop) or 1967 Disneyland ending which featured Progress City/EPCOT in the background.

The current unload theatre is turned into Act 5, a bonus look at the future. It can always be updated from time to time and never effect Acts 1-4. The cast hired to rerecord new updates to act 5 will also do the records for the set in stone script for acts 1-4 for vocal consistency.

PLEASE NOTE: the load and unload stages are shorter than acts 1-4, so act 5 will be a bit more narrow in size and depth, but can still show our carousel family somewhere in the 21st century.

Fantastic idea

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

I think the last scene is supposed to be dated? Unless I misunderstood it the last time I went (entirely possible), isn't the current version of COP supposed to go from turn of the century to turn of the century, 1900 - 2000?

Yes, for me there is no problem with CoP. It clearly goes from turn of the century to turn of century. Last scene is set to the 1990's. I think if they slightly change a few other scenes to balance them out over the roughly 100 year span would help. Maybe a better intro to clearly state we are following a family through the 20th century. If people want 21 century they can go to Epcot..... oh wait......

 

[ppete1975]

On my armchair imagineering show, I did a treatment for a new 80s scene where we recorded audio and everything.

I think the move here is for this to be rebuilt in Epcot.

Ive never understood this thought process. Ive seen it listed several times, but this isn't roller coaster tycoon. The cost of moving it to Epcot would cost way more than Disney would ever spend on an old ride, and wouldn't add capacity (would move it to another park, but wouldn't add capacity.. and it wouldn't be as popular as anything new they could put in). In addition where would you put it? A big circular theater that this would need would?

 

[The Pho]

Ive never understood this thought process. Ive seen it listed several times, but this isn't roller coaster tycoon. The cost of moving it to Epcot would cost way more than Disney would ever spend on an old ride, and wouldn't add capacity (would move it to another park, but wouldn't add capacity.. and it wouldn't be as popular as anything new they could put in). In addition where would you put it? A big circular theater that this would need would?

Stems a lot from that Disney has moved it multiple times so far. And since Epcot was modeled after the World’s Fair, it would almost be like returning it home. Similar for Small World.

 

[ppete1975]

If you were to move this for the sake of argument, the better choice would be DHS. Create a fitting walt museum to replace one mans dream make it much larger than what they have had. Then at the end you can either exit, or go into COP and experience a ride he had a hand in (brought back to 60s scenes). Basically add a museum and add the COP as a sort of museum experience. But the theater would be way too costly. Unless they made it a walk through, instead of round just have where you walk up to the scene (in a line) and the audio is on loop.

 

[ppete1975]

Stems a lot from that Disney has moved it multiple times so far. And since Epcot was modeled after the World’s Fair, it would almost be like returning it home.

But it was a new attraction. First time it was moved it was a marvel. The time it was moved from land to world it added capacity and a NEW attraction.. and wasn't dated (technology wise). Now its basically a museum piece that as much as we love it, isn't going to bring in the next generation.

There is also the loss of GE, which I'm sure paid for a lot of the two moves it had.

 

[The Pho]

But it was a new attraction. First time it was moved it was a marvel. The time it was moved from land to world it added capacity and a NEW attraction.. and wasn't dated (technology wise). Now its basically a museum piece that as much as we love it, isn't going to bring in the next generation.

There is also the loss of GE, which I'm sure paid for a lot of the two moves it had.

I don’t really want it to move personally. Just want the ride to maintain its relevance. Really all it truly needs is minor updates to the final scene (don’t say carphone, new ski boots, update the game’s graphics, less robotic oven voice, etc.). It could get more but other areas of Tomorrowland need attention more.

I’d really only advocate for its moving to Epcot, if they reembraced the Worlds Fair aspect and brought over Small World and some other stuff from ‘64. But they’re dropping that part of Epcot completely now so it would make less sense.

The previous moves all made more sense, but since it’s one of the only rides to have been moved, it’ll keep popping up in ride moving conversations.

 

[JustAFan]

My vote would be to set the final scene on Dec. 31st 1999 into January 1st 2000 so I can keep some of the millennium celebration music somewhere on property and keep the show contained to one century.

They could add the wand to this scene.

 

[HMF]

They could add the wand to this scene.

View attachment 354800

I wouldn't be against it appearing on a television the family would be watching. If you were alive at the time and remember watching ABC that day it was basically a Millennium Celebration clip show.

 

[Obobru]

Last scene is set to the 1990's.

Is it? Sure last time I was on it last year the 90's TV had been replaced with a flat screen. I don't think Disney have a clue what decade the last scene is as it's a mix of 90/00/10's

 

[DisneyGentlemanV2.0]

Is it? Sure last time I was on it last year the 90's TV had been replaced with a flat screen. I don't think Disney have a clue what decade the last scene is as it's a mix of 90/00/10's

To paraphrase the father in the earlier scenes,

"It will never work"

becomes

"They will never notice."

 

[TOCPE82]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, my solution to solve the CoP is:

Have the Tomorrowland Metro Retro Historical Society "sponsor" the show. New 4-5 minute preshow on bigger TV monitors with better sound quality to help set up the show.

The load theatre becomes both a load and unload theatre (think Philarmagic, Hall of Presidents, etc) guests enter on one side and exit out the other side. Guests would still enter the theater thru the left doors and then exit out thru the rarely used right side doors.

The original 1964 orchestral soundtrack is brought back. The curtains are removed and replaced with a movie screen using digital projection. The screen uses a new CGI animation made to mimic the original kaleidophonic screens (like they did for the D23 Carousel of Projects exhibit a few years ago) the kaleiodphonic graphics transform into a screen with a quick recap about the history of the attraction and how it wound up in Tomorrowland, explaining to guests that they will see the original show, which followed the era of Walt Disney's life (turn of the 20th century thru the 1960s) and then see a glimpse at the future.

Acts 1-3 are restored further to how they were in 1964, minus references to GE.

Act 4 is remade to look either like the 1964 ending (suburban neighborhood backdrop) or 1967 Disneyland ending which featured Progress City/EPCOT in the background.

The current unload theatre is turned into Act 5, a bonus look at the future. It can always be updated from time to time and never effect Acts 1-4. The cast hired to rerecord new updates to act 5 will also do the records for the set in stone script for acts 1-4 for vocal consistency.

PLEASE NOTE: the load and unload stages are shorter than acts 1-4, so act 5 will be a bit more narrow in size and depth, but can still show our carousel family somewhere in the 21st century.

I never understood why they needed separate load and unload sections. Was it a timing thing?

 

[prberk]

I never understood why they needed separate load and unload sections. Was it a timing thing?

Yes, efficiency when it is crowded, so that people are seated and ready before the turn starts. Remember that if the turn is ready to start and people are going in and out or moving around, the ride is triggered not to move and the other segments have to watch their scene again.